As Colter on “Tracker,” Justin Hartley shoots a lot of scenes in the woods surrounding Vancouver.
CBS
Well, that went better than expected.
Justin Hartley, who grew up in Orland Park and set out for Hollywood nearly 25 years ago with not much to offer in the way of employable skills, is now the star of the most-watched network television show in the country.
“It really means a lot to me,” Hartley told the Sun-Times ahead of the May 19 season finale on CBS. “We really pour our hearts and souls into this thing,”
Hartley, 47, plays Colter Shaw, who travels the country, with his camper hooked to his pickup, and uses his expert tracking and survival skills to find missing persons. He solves mysteries, collects rewards and knows how to handle himself.
The Sunday night show got a boost by debuting in February after a Super Bowl that set a new record for viewership (123.4 million).
More than 18 million people watched the premiere, and “Tracker” is averaging nearly 16 million viewers across multiple platforms, according to Nielsen.
It’s the most-watched new series since “Young Sheldon” debuted in 2017.
“The power of the Super Bowl, the power of [Chiefs fan] Taylor Swift, the power of the NFL. … It’s a good starting point,” Hartley said. “But then you have to deliver afterwards.
“I think it’s well written and I think it’s a show that people need right now, you know. It’s just a fun hour of television.”
The show is a bit of a throwback, said Hartley, who loved watching “Knight Rider” and “Magnum, P.I.” growing up.
“It’s about this guy who’s sort of an outsider — not an antihero, a really good guy, someone you can root for. But it’s just about one guy, not an ensemble team show. He has people who help him, but it’s certainly not a team show. It’s mostly Colter,” he said.
Each episode has its own plot, but there’s a throughline mystery about the death of the main character’s father, a former college professor who went off the grid and raised his kids as survivalists.
“We’re telling the story of ‘Who killed the father?,’ and that gets answered at the end of the season, so we’ll have to dive deeper into something else in Season Two.”
Don’t expect an underwater episode or a musical number, Hartley joked.
“The formula we have is working. People really like it, so I don’t know if we’ll change it that much. But we will dive into the supporting characters a little more.”
One such character is played by Abby McEnany, the Chicago writer, actor, comedian and former Second City performer who plays Velma Bruin. She and her wife on the show, played by Robin Weigert, act as Shaw’s handlers who find his next mission and help keep him on track.
“I don’t get to see her much. They come in and do their stuff, I’m not there for it, I’m off in the middle of the forest doing something else. I don’t think I’ve done one scene with her, not one,” said Hartley, who films “Tracker” in the Vancouver area.
“We’ve gone to dinners and stuff, she’s cool. I really like her. She’s very funny, but I don’t know if we’ve talked Chicago much.”
Hartley, who graduated from Sandburg High School in 1995 before heading to Southern Illinois University, started out in the industry with roles on soap operas. A big break came when he landed a role on the NBC drama “This is us.”
His character in “Tracker” lives by his father’s motto: “Don’t let panic take the wheel.”
When filtering moments of his own life through these words, Hartley thinks back to his decision to leave the Midwest to follow his acting dreams in California.
“Usually this ends in complete and utter failure … but somehow I got lucky,” he said.
“I realized pretty quickly I hadn’t thought about the fact that I didn’t have any prospects, or any way of getting a job, or any talent, so to speak.”
He took acting classes, waited tables, bar tended and worked in clothing retail, as a janitor, and at Home Depot. He did roofing, gardening, painting, siding, cement work and bricklaying.
He drew the line at electrical work.
“You don’t want me messing with electricity,” he said with a laugh.
“If I had to do that now, I think panic would take the wheel, or maybe just common sense would take the wheel,” he said. “I guess that’s why people say, ‘Do it while you’re young,’ because you don’t really have anything holding you back.”
His survival skills in Hollywood are proven, but could he imitate his character on the show and survive in the wilderness if he had to?
“I know how to find shelter and build a fire and find water” Hartley said. “I don’t know how long I could survive on my own, but I think I’d be OK for a few days.”